WORLD | 31-03-2020 20:21

Deadliest day for Europe coronavirus hotspots, as US death toll surges

With more than 40,000 killed by the disease barrelling around the globe, the United States, already home to the largest number of confirmed infections, hit a bleak milestone as its national death toll surpassed China's.

Share this News

US President Donald Trump speaks during the daily briefing on the novel coronavirus, Covid-19, in the Brady Briefing Room at the White House on March 31, 2020, in Washington DC. | AFP/MANDEL NGAN

Deaths from the coronavirus spiked in Europe on Tuesday with Spain, France and Britain reporting their highest daily tolls to date, as field hospitals shot up across New York, the epicentre of the US outbreak bracing for dark times ahead.

With more than 40,000 killed by the disease barrelling around the globe, the United States, already home to the largest number of confirmed infections, hit a bleak milestone as its national death toll surpassed China's.

In a matter of months, the virus has infected nearly 850,000 people in a crisis hammering the global economy and transforming the daily existence of some 3.6 billion people who have been told to stay home under lockdowns.

Deaths shot up again across Europe. While there are hopeful signs that the spread of infections is slowing in hardest-hit Italy and Spain, more than 800 died overnight in both countries.

"You see movies like Contagion and you think it's so far from the truth, it will never happen. So to see it actually happening here is very surreal," 57-year-old passerby Joanne Dunbar told AFP.

While many companies and schools around the globe have shifted to teleworking and teaching over video platforms, huge swaths of the world's workforce cannot perform their jobs online and are now lacking pay and face a deeply uncertain future.

Food banks in New York City have seen a surge of newcomers struggling to feed their families.